Ezekiel Chapter 4 Commentary

7/30/2019 Ezekiel Chapter 4 Commentary

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Chapter 4

I. Siege of Jerusalem portrayed (4:1-17):

A. Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it acity, even Jerusalem: and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a

mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it round

about. And take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee

and the city: and set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay

siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel(4:1-3).

1. Ezekiel is commanded to sketch a drawing on a brick (tile stone) of the cityof Jerusalem under a siege. A tile was the kind used in his day for writing things

on, a sort of clay tablet. Ezekiel acted out the coming siege and fall of Jerusalem

before it actually happened. God gave Ezekiel specific instructions about what to

do and say and how to do and say it. What Ezekiel was to do was to draw the

city of Jerusalem on the brick and then he was to break the brick to show that the

city was going to be destroyed.

2. The prophet is instructed to take an iron pan and set it between him and the

city under siege. Some believe this pan between the prophet and the city signifiesthe Babylonian army as an impenetrable wall that the inhabitants of Jerusalemcannot escape from. He was then instructed to throw rocks and other things at the

tile back of the iron pan until it was destroyed.

3. This pantomime symbolized the coming siege of Jerusalem and thecomplete destruction of Judah and the city (see also Ezekiel 7-8, 16-17). Because

Jerusalem was a well-fortified city, it would take Babylon months to capture it.

The purpose of a siege was to starve out the enemies and wear them down by

halting their flow of food, supplies, and weapons.

4. Ezekiel was also to build a ramp uptothe brick city. The ramp provided arelatively smooth incline with which siege towers and battering rams could be

pushed. Also the ramp allowed the attackers to get above the bedrock and large

foundation stones of the city so the smaller and more vulnerable upper stonescould be reached by the battering rams.

5. The very drawing and act was to be a sign to the house of Israel. Thesiege will take place and it did according to the record of II Kings 25:1ff.

B. Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel uponit; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear

their iniquity. For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be unto thee a

number of days, even three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity

of the house of Israel. And again, when thou hast accomplished these, thou shalt lie

on thy right side, and shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah: forty days, each

day for a year, have I appointed it unto thee. And thou shalt set thy face toward the

siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered; and thou shalt prophesy against it.And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to the

other, till thou hast accomplished the days of thy siege (4:4-8).

1. Ezekiels unusual actions symbolically portrayed the fate of Jerusalem. He

lay on his left side for 390 days to show that Israel would be punished for 390

years; then he lay on his right side for 40 days to show that Judah would bepunished for 40 years. Ezekiel was not allowed to move, symbolizing the fact

that the people of Jerusalem would be imprisoned within the walls of the city.


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We know that Ezekiel did not have to lie on his side all day because these verses

tell of other tasks God asked him to do during this time.

2. Ezekiel is told to first lie upon his left side for 390 days and thereby bearthe iniquity of the house of Israel. Next, he was to lie upon his right side for 40

days and again symbolically bear the iniquity of the house of Judah. Isaiah

spoke of Jesus who would bear their iniquities (Isa. 53:11) and the author of

Hebrews speaks of such bearing of iniquities when he said, And inasmuch as itis appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment; so Christ

also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second

time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation (Heb. 9:27-28).

The idea of bearing is to carry a load. Jesus carried the load of sin to the cross

and paid sins final penalty so that we would not have to.Likewise, Ezekiel wasto symbolically carry the load of Israel and Judahs sin by laying on his side for

430 days (a representation of the number of years they are to be punished for

their sin).

3. If Ezekiel prostrated himself with his head toward Jerusalem (cf. Dan.6:10), he was facing north when he lay on his left side (and south when he lay on

his right side, Ezek. 4:6). The Lord promised to help Ezekiel lie on his sides by

restraining his movements, as though ropes bound him in his positions. Someinterpreters believed that God had someone bind Ezekiel with ropes each day, but

I do not think the text requires this. Again, it appears that the prophet acted out

his drama for only a few hours each day, and it was during this time that God

enabled him to lie quietly.

4. 430 years is found in Exodus 12:40 as the number of years Israel spent inEgyptian bondage. This was a time of Israels affliction (Gen. 15:13). We

should not try to press this Illustration in Ezekiel too far. I believe it simplymeans that due to Israel and Judahs sin, God would afflict them for a period of

time in captivity as they were once afflicted in Egypt. We know that the time of

Judahs captivity was 70 years (Jer. 25:11); however, Israel had been in affliction

even before Judahs 70 years began by the Assyrians beginning about 722 BC.

5. As the prophet takes God's role in the street drama, the expression thinearm uncovered (cf. Isa. 52:10) suggests the more common outstretched arm

(e.g., Ex. 6:6; Deut. 4:34; Ezek. 20:3334) with which the Lord acts on behalf of

his people, but here it is wielded against Jerusalem. Ezekiel's muteness (3:26)

gives way to speech with the instruction to prophesy against the city.

6. God's judgment of sin is inevitable. He is longsuffering and may wait for

years, but ultimately he will dispense judgment. This judgment will include hispeople.

C. Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, andspelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof; according to the

number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety

days, shalt thou eat thereof. And thy food which thou shalt eat shall be by weight,

twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it. And thou shalt drink waterby measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt

eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it in their sight with dung that cometh out

of man. And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their bread

unclean, among the nations whither I will drive them. Then said I, Ah Lord Jehovah!

behold, my soul hath not been polluted; for from my youth up even till now have I not

eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn of beasts; neither came there abominable
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flesh into my mouth. Then he said unto me, See, I have given thee cow's dung for

man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread thereon. Moreover he said unto me,

Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat

bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in

dismay: that they may want bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, andpine away in their iniquity (4:9-17).

1. Ezekiel is instructed to take small amounts of food and set it beside him forthe duration of his bearing the iniquity of Israel and Judah. He was to ration out

his daily consumption of bread and water which is an indication of a famine

during the siege. Ezekiel is to bake his bread with human dung as fuel. Such an

act rendered the bread unclean due to its stink and terrible taste. The two acts

(i.e., rationing his food and using human waist as fuel to cook with) were torepresent the grievous nature of the suffering during the siege (cf. Jer. 16:3-4).

2. In times of scarcity, it is customary in all countries to mix several kinds ofcoarser grain with the finer, to make it last the longer. This mixture, which the

prophet is commanded to make, of wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and

fitches, was intended to show scarce food would be during the siege. Normally

each of these foods was in abundance. During the siege, however, supplies were

so scarce that several foods had to be combined to provide enough for a meal.3. Ezekiel was to bake his bread in the sight of the people. The use of dung as

fuel was practiced throughout the Middle East because of the scarcity of wood.

Dung was mixed with straw and allowed to dry. The dried dung burned slowly

and gave off an unpleasant odor. No stigma was associated with the use of

animal dung, but using human dung was considered repulsive.

4. Ezekiel was repulsed with the idea of using human dung to make his breadand thereby complained to the Lord that he had never polluted his soul withanything that was unclean. The Lord makes a provision for Ezekiel and allows

the prophet to use cow dung rather than human dung to bake his bread. This sign

was used to show the pollution and defilement the people would experience.

5. Ezekiel understood the symbolism of the sign, but the action waspersonally distasteful to him. He could not bring himself to do it. He responded,

Ah Lord Jehovah! Behold, my soul hath not been polluted. Ezekiel had always

kept Gods dietary laws (Deut. 14). As a priest (Ezek. 1:3) he was careful to keep

himself undefiled (cf. Lev. 22:8; Ezek. 44:31). Though the Law did not

specifically prohibit the use of human dung for cooking, its guideline regarding

the disposal of human excrement suggests that it was considered improper (cf.

Deut. 23:12-14). The LORD explained the symbolism of using human dung: Thepeople of Israel will eat defiled food among the nations where I will drive them

(Ezek. 4:13). The siege (and subsequent captivity) would force the Israelites to

eat defiled food and thus become ceremonially unclean.

6. God heard this complaint of his prophet. He canceled the most abhorrentaspect of the initial directive. The Lord gave Ezekiel permission to substitute

cows dung, which was used for cooking fuel in some quarters, for human dung

(4:14f.).Cow dung,a common fuel then as now, was allowed as a substitute inlight of Ezekiels prayerful insistence and practical faithfulness to the ceremonial

law (Deut. 12:1519; 14:321).

7. The phrase staff of bread probably refers to a method of supply orstorage. To break thestaff of bread (see 5:16; 14:13; also Lev. 26:26; Ps.

105:16) means to cut off their food supply and is synonymous with famine. So
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Ezekiel communicated through these object lessons, trying to get across to them

that they should expect to be in siege conditions.

8. Note the phrase:and they shall eat bread by weight and they shalldrink water by measure. The measure ofbread byweight is twenty shekels

or about nine ounces; the ration of water is the sixth part of a hin or about a

pint and a half. These were famine rations.

9. This whole situation was to impress the Jews that witnessed Ezekiel doingthis that they may see the state of desperation their brethren would be in. All

these conditions were to symbolize how people back in Jerusalem were going to

have to eat to live during the siege. They would have to eat sparingly because the

famine caused by the siege would be severe.

10. Divine explanations (4:1317): God first explained why he had directedthe prophet to eat food which, according the Law of Moses, was unclean. The

prophets actions were designed to underscore the fact that the sons of Israel

would eat their bread unclean, among the nations where God would banish

them (4:13). They insisted on taking on heathen worship, heathen idols, so God

says, Great, I am going to put you at the level of the heathen.

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Ezekiel Chapter 4 Commentary